How ownership is rewriting the future of direct selling.
The story of direct selling has always been a story about participation—first through commissions, then through bonuses and overrides, and eventually through team building and leadership. But a new chapter is unfolding across the channel today, one that reflects the economic realities of modern entrepreneurship and the rising expectations of an independent workforce. We are entering what I call the equity revolution: a shift from rewarding contribution with short-term earnings to rewarding contribution with long-term ownership.
This moment did not appear suddenly. It grew out of several converging forces reshaping the global workplace. Independent work is expanding faster than traditional employment. The gig economy reset expectations around flexibility. Younger generations increasingly value purpose-driven participation. And across industries, employees and contractors alike are asking a simple but profound question: If I am contributing to the growth of this company, why shouldn’t I share in the value of what I am building?
Equity answers that question. And importantly, it answers it in a way that rewards aligned behavior, not just activity. Ownership fosters trust because the company’s success and the field’s success become inseparable. It strengthens culture by creating a shared stake in long-term outcomes. It improves retention because people don’t walk away from value they are vested in. It elevates performance because individuals can see—and measure—the wealth they are creating as the company grows. Most of all, it transforms distributors from participants into partners, shifting their mindset from short-term earnings to long-term wealth.
Across the channel, companies that introduce equity initiatives consistently report the same benefits: a more inclusive culture, a deeper sense of contribution, improved field performance, higher retention through vesting, greater continuity of tribal knowledge and a powerful alignment between personal effort and enterprise value. These forces create what I’ve always believed is the highest potential of direct selling: recurring value, recurring revenue and recurring wealth.
This revolution began in real estate, spread through financial services and is now entering product companies in exciting new ways. Together, these three sectors illustrate the future of the channel.
Real Estate: The Blueprint of the Equity Revolution
The modern equity movement in field-driven business began long before anyone used the term. In 1983, Gary Keller introduced a radical idea at Keller Williams: what if real estate agents shared in the office profits they helped create? That early profit-sharing model reframed the brokerage not as a hierarchy, but as a collaborative ecosystem where the growth of one contributed to the wealth of many. The market responded. Over the next four decades, Keller Williams paid out billions of dollars in profit share, demonstrating that shared success could also be sustained success.
But the true breakthrough came when cloud-based models removed the cost structures that limited what a brokerage could share. Without the burden of physical offices, companies could redirect enormous value back to the field. And no one recognized or acted on that opportunity faster—or more decisively—than Glenn Sanford at eXp Realty.
As Founder and CEO, Sanford rewired the traditional brokerage model by replacing profit sharing with revenue sharing, allowing agents to benefit from gross commission income, independent of office profitability. At the same time, he introduced something even more disruptive: equity ownership for every agent who contributed to the company’s growth.
“I always wanted to be an owner when I was an agent, but no one offered it,” Sanford said. “So, when we built eXp, ownership had to be part of the experience—not reserved for executives, but accessible to the people who were out there building the business every day.”
This simple idea became the catalyst for one of the most explosive growth stories in the history of residential real estate, culminating in eXp’s spot at #3 on the DSN Global 100 List with $4.6 billion in revenue for 2024.
The Power of Equity + Revenue Share
eXp’s agents could now earn stock for their first closing; for capping; for attracting additional agents; and for participating in the company’s cultural events. Top producers could earn back their entire annual cap in the form of equity. And agents could voluntarily take a portion of their commissions in stock at a discount, allowing them to accumulate meaningful ownership over time.
As Sanford explained, “We created the first model where the field could build real wealth, not just real income. Some agents didn’t even realize how much equity they had until they opened their accounts. It was life changing.”
The results spoke loudly. Participation surged. Agent count grew from under 1,000 to tens of thousands worldwide. Revenue increased year after year. Agents began sharing stories of equity portfolios that helped them overcome health challenges, fund children’s education or secure financial independence. eXp became the fastest-growing brokerage in the world, fueled not by office count or franchise expansion, but by the wealth it was helping its agents create.
The model was so effective that the rest of the sector followed. Real Brokerage, LPT Realty, Epique Realty, Realty of America, ENRG Realty and Call It Closed Realty all adopted variations of revenue sharing, equity awards or pre-public ownership opportunities. They recognized that stock-based incentives were no longer a novelty—they were a necessity for attracting and retaining talent in a competitive marketplace.
In fact, eXp and the companies that have emulated its cloud-based, revenue-sharing, equity-based model represent an incredible $10 billion in revenue for the year—a milestone they have accomplished in a little more than 10 years.
Real Brokerage is another remarkable success story in this space, second only to eXp and closely aligned with their model. At #13 on the DSN Global 100 List with 2024 revenue of $1.26 billion, they are the expected to reach $2 billion in 2025—a phenomenal gain from 2024’s revenue numbers.
In a period where other companies are struggling to maintain or bounce back from losses, REAL Brokerage has grown an astonishing 10X in between 2021 and 2024.
Real estate has proven that equity works at scale. More importantly, it demonstrates that equity can fundamentally transform behavior, culture and commitment.
Financial Services: The Reinforcement and Expansion of the Model
If real estate provided the blueprint, financial services supplied the validation. With professional licensure, high lifetime customer value and naturally recurring transaction streams, financial services has long been a sector where ownership aligns naturally with performance.
Primerica, one of the largest and most respected field-driven financial companies in the world, illustrates what happens when a salesforce is given a genuine stake in the enterprise they help build.
As part of the IPO that separated Primerica from Citigroup in 2010, the company’s leadership understood that the success of the company—and the survival of its culture—would depend on whether the field felt included in the opportunity ahead.
As former Co-CEO John Addison shared, the transition out of Citigroup was a moment requiring unity, trust and shared belief. “We had been through rough and stormy seas. We weren’t going to say, ‘Great news—leadership gets rich, and you get nothing.’ If we were going to move forward as one team, the field had to go into the future as owners.”
To rebuild momentum after the financial crisis—when a major lending product disappeared overnight and the field saw years of accumulated savings evaporate—Primerica created a large-scale equity initiative. Thousands of top performers received stock grants at the IPO. Field leaders were given the opportunity to buy into the offering. And the company implemented quarterly equity qualifications tied to performance, growth and leadership.
The result was a psychological reset. People who had once feared financial ruin suddenly saw a path to shared prosperity. Addison revealed that many field leaders accumulated substantial ownership through these programs. “I ran into one Regional Vice President who said that ‘Just from the equity I’ve earned since we went public, I’ve got a few million dollars in Primerica stock.’ That’s long-term value created from long-term commitment.”
Addison emphasized that this was not a symbolic gesture—it was a structural choice that changed the culture. “Equity gave people hope again. It created a feeling of ‘We’re in this together.’ When you make decisions that benefit everybody—not just the executives—that’s when the team digs deeper and goes further.”
Interestingly, the program wasn’t built on restrictive handcuffs. Primerica made equity vesting fair but flexible, avoiding heavy contractual traps that could blur the line between independent contractor and employee. Addison stressed that the initiative worked because it rewarded contribution, not compliance.
Today, Primerica remains one of the strongest examples of how equity can reshape a field-based financial organization. Its stock has increased 17X since the IPO in 2010, and its leaders continue to benefit both from their own book of business and from ownership in the larger enterprise. It is currently #7 on the DSN Global 100 List with 2024 revenue of $3.07 billion.
As consolidation accelerates in the financial services sector—with major aggregators extending equity to acquired partners—the role of ownership in attracting and retaining talent will only increase. Equity is becoming the competitive advantage for companies that rely on professionalism, licensing and long-term client relationships.
Product Companies: Zinzino and the Hybridization of Value Creation
Equity participation has traditionally been rare in product companies. Most rely on commissions, bonuses and rank-based incentives. But as the expectations of the modern workforce evolve, so too are the compensation structures of product-centric direct selling companies.
Zinzino, publicly traded on the Nasdaq First North Premier market, is emerging as the most compelling example of equity’s entry into the product category. Its model allows top field leaders to earn or acquire ownership stakes—effectively merging the entrepreneurial spirit of direct selling with the wealth-building mechanics of a publicly traded enterprise.
Ørjan Sæle, Zinzino’s Co-Founder and CEO has been remarkably candid about why the company chose this path. “Inside a typical company, the whole game is rigged. If you’re not the CEO, you’ll never make what the CEO makes—and there can’t be three CEOs. Equity solves that. It gives people who build the business a chance to share in what they’re building.”
This philosophy is embedded in the company’s compensation structure. Leaders who hit key milestones can earn significant stock awards. Those who rise through the ranks can accumulate real ownership—tangible, measurable stakes that connect their efforts to the value of the enterprise.
In addition to equity, Zinzino centers its business on recurring customer revenue through subscription-based wellness products. The combination is powerful: strong consumer retention, predictable field earnings and the opportunity for leaders to build long-term wealth.
This hybrid model represents the future of product-driven direct selling. It acknowledges that while commissions drive activity, ownership drives legacy. Zinzino is #44 on the DSN Global 100 List with 2024 revenue of $200 million. They are on track to do $350 million in 2025 and to possibly reach $500 million in 2026.
The accelerated growth is truly remarkable, having gone from $100 million in 2023 to a predicted $500 million in 2026—a 5X growth in just three years. Additionally, the stock has grown 6X in just the last two years.
The Future Belongs to Ownership-Driven Companies
Across real estate, financial services and product companies, the same pattern emerges:
- Equity creates alignment between the field and the home office.
- Equity drives retention through vesting and long-term value creation.
- Equity strengthens culture by giving everyone a stake in what they are building.
- Equity motivates performance more sustainably than short-term bonuses ever could.
- Equity fosters partnership, turning representatives into owners.
In other words, equity transforms a direct selling organization from a compensation system into a wealth-building ecosystem. Equity may not replace cash compensation, but it is redefining what success looks like.
As Addison explained, “Shared success makes people dig deeper. When the field knows they are true stakeholders—not just participants—the whole organization rises. That’s what ownership does.”
Companies that embrace this shift will attract higher-caliber talent, retain leaders longer, build stronger cultures and unlock the true economic potential of field-driven businesses.
The equity revolution isn’t coming. It’s already here.
STUART JOHNSON, Founder & CEO, Direct Selling News, has served the direct selling industry for nearly 40 years. His passion for the channel encompasses a broader commitment to build and connect the direct selling community through exclusive industry events such as Direct Selling University and the DSN Global Celebration. Stuart is arguably the most connected person in direct selling. He has built an impressive and growing network of executives, thought leaders, strategists and innovators. His advice and counsel are sought after by leaders throughout the channel.
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